Robert Farrington
, ContributorI write about personal finance, college, and student loan debt.Opinions expressed by Forbes Contributors are their own.

Earlier this week, the New York Federal Reserve released its Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit for the fourth quarter of 2014. The report is based on data from the New York Federal Reserve’s Consumer Credit Panel, which samples data from Equifax, one of the major credit reporting companies.

While most forms of household debt saw improvements in borrowers making on-time payments, a big exception was student loan debt. Student loan debt saw delinquencies (debt that has not had a payment made in 90+ days) rise to 11.3% of outstanding debt. The report also shows that student loan debt has the highest amount of delinquent debt compared to all other forms of household debt (mortgages, auto loans, and credit cards).

A Key Reason Behind Rising Delinquencies

The report from the New York Fed cites several possible reasons for the rise in student loan debt delinquencies. First, student loan debt is not dischargeable in bankruptcy. While most other forms of household debt can be discharged in bankruptcy, student loan debt cannot – which means that past delinquencies compound onto new delinquencies, and until borrowers as a whole start bringing their loans current, the delinquency rate will continue to rise.

What many student loan borrowers forget is that student loan debt is basically a secured debt – it’s secured on the borrowers future earnings. So, similar to a mortgage where the house is collateral, and an auto loan where the car is collateral, the collateral for student loan debt is the borrower’s earnings. The fact that it’s not dischargeable in bankruptcy reflects this fact.

One Key Fact Glanced Over In The Report

One fact mentioned briefly in the report is the rising inflows of new delinquencies. The fourth quarter is typically the first quarter after recent graduates are asked to start making payments on their new student loans. Given that most student loans (both Federal and private) give a 6-month grace period before the first payment is due, the first payments for new student loans are typically due in October and November. Therefore, the first time a loan could possibly be 90+ days past due arrives in December and January.

That means that some of the new inflows are likely due to recent graduates who have struggled to make even their first payment on their student loan debt, or who simply don’t know how to go about making their student repayment plan affordable given their current situation. That's why college students need to make these three moves after graduation if they can't make their payments.